5 Celebrity Survivors of 9/11

It’s been over a decade since the 911 tragedy, but the stories are still circulating the internet. Why? Because people still cannot believe such a horrible thing could have happened. We lost 2779 people that day. We are very lucky to have had the heroes who were able to keep the casualties to the number they were. If it had not been for the hundreds of police officers and firemen and civilians who were the first to respond to the events how many more may have died? If it hadn’t been for the brave souls on Flight 93, which crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, would there have been more grieving family members? There were those people who did get lucky, though. While I am sure there are countless stories out there on the unknown survivors, here is a list of five celebrities that are survivors of 9/11 and escaped death during this “day of infamy”.

SARAH FERGUSON

The Duchess of York and ex-wife to Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, was in New York City on September 11, 2001 and scheduled to be at a charity event on the 102nd Floor of World Trade Center 1, which was being lent to Fergie by Cantor Fitzgerald. You may remember the name of this financial firm which lost almost 700 employees the day of the attacks. Luckily for Sarah Ferguson, she was stuck in an interview uptown with Matt Lauer at the NBC studios at the time of the attacks.

MARK WAHLBERG

Marky Mark had a pretty close call on 9/11. His story has recently made the news when he described what he would have done had he been able to face down the terrorists. As it turns out, this actor, famous for his appearances in “Boogie Nights”, “The Perfect Storm”, and “The Departed” had a ticket for Flight 11 out of Boston to Los Angeles that fateful day. He and his friends decided to take a detour to Toronto instead of heading back to Hollywood and he avoided a fist fight with the terrorists. The events still haunt his dreams, according to Wahlberg. He’s a pretty tough dude. He just might have jumped the bad guys.

SETH MACFARLANE

The funny creator of “Family Guy” and “American Dad” might have been sitting next to Marky Mark had it not been for a screw up from his travel agent. He, too, was leaving Boston to Los Angeles on Flight 11, but his travel agent gave him the wrong time. While Flight 11 was scheduled to leave at 7:45am, MacFarlane was told he didn’t have to be at the gate until 8:15. He showed up just as the gate was closed and the plane was taking off. He should give that travel agent some “Ha-wheat Thins” and a kiss every time he’s in Boston.

PATTI AUSTIN

Grammy award winning singer, Patti Austin was able to survive one tragedy by having another. While she should have been on the Flight 93 to head back to Los Angeles, she left one day early from her New York concert because he mother suffered a stroke. She was doing a two-day charity concert for Michael Jackson in Manhattan and was scheduled to perform on 9/10/2001, but her mother’s ailment forced her to perform a day early and then leave the next morning. Austin claims she still performs for charities, but has increased her work since 9/11.

IAN THORPE

This name might not sound familiar to you, but at the 2000 Olympics, Ian Thorpe was the pride of Australia bringing home 5 medals in swimming. While he may not sound like Michael Phelps, the guy is a serious athlete. No one else brought home that many medals in Sydney that summer. On September 11, 2001, Thorpe was jogging in Manhattan and decided to head over to the observation deck of the World Trade Center. Unfortunately, Thorpe had forgotten his camera at the hotel and hailed a taxi cab to retrieve it. When he got back to his room he grabbed his camera and heard the commotion. Had he had his camera with him, he would have been at the top of tower when Flight 11 hit.